Robotic industrial automation has seen significant success in large-scale manufacturing because it offers significant advantages at scale for tasks such as welding, cutting, stamping, painting, heavy material handling, precision material machining, etc. The success of robotic automation in large-scale manufacturing has led to a long-standing desire to extend the use of robotic automation into small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (“SMEs”). However, in contrast to large scale manufacturing, SMEs' production processes are typically characterized by small production volumes and/or high product variability. Consequently, the ability to amortize the infrastructure, specialized personnel, setup, and programming of flexible robotic automation is far reduced for SMEs.
SME processes sometimes include tasks that require a high level of customization and therefore necessarily involve human skill and judgment. For example, refurbishment tasks and build-to-order manufacturing processes must accommodate unforeseen workpiece variances and equipment modifications. In such cases, an existing human-centered production process may find it difficult to determine where or how robotic automation can be a useful addition to an effective human-intensive process, rather than a duplication or attenuation thereof. Take, for instance, an SME specializing in custom furniture manufacturing that has a number of highly-skilled employees. That SME may want to improve the efficiency and productivity of its employees by using robotic systems to automate repetitive tasks that involve dexterous actions, such as drilling or sanding tasks. However, a commercial off-the-shelf robotic system would not be useful in this case because it would be impossible for the SME to leverage its employees' existing task knowledge and experience.
The teach pendant is a mainstay of industrial robots. Usually a control panel or touch screen attached by tether to the robot, the teach pendant is used for controlling all aspects of the robot, from writing code to programming actions. However, because the teach pendant is connected to the robot using wires, the programmer needs to be in close proximity of the robot in order to use the teach pendant. This close proximity may not be wanted or even desired due to safety considerations. Also, having a different teach pendant for each robot may make robot control and management a difficult and time consuming process.
There is therefore a need for systems and methods for overcoming these and other problems presented by the prior art.